Luke’s version of the “Our Father” is only 38 words long. To call it a summary or distillation of Jesus’ teaching on prayer is to then be challenged to listen deeply to its words to grasp why Jesus ...

Three things I ask God to do when I’m in the pulpit. I publicly pray before I start my sermons. I also privately pray as I preach. Multiple things go through the preacher's mind during a sermon. The ...

There is a certain paradox at the heart of Christian prayer. One sees it most clearly in two of the central passages of the New Testament about prayer: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are ...

A teaching sermon calls for a careful plan, clearly visible. Let us assume that a pastor has begun in good time, that he has a worthy goal with a royal text, and more than enough materials, from both ...

In Matthew, Chapter 6, Jesus compares the religious behavior of two distinct types of persons. In verse 5, Jesus points out the behavior of those who use religion for self-righteous reasons. Verse 6 ...

It’s a common saying that a homilist should prepare to preach with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. This week, as I was praying and meditating about our Lord’s teaching about being ...

October marks the end of the Discalced Carmelite Order’s celebration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Ávila. St. Teresa is a doctor of the Church and one of history’s greatest ...

It should be no surprise that Jesus emphasizes forgiveness as essential to prayer. When his disciples asked him to teach them how to prayer, he first drew them into his own relationship with God as ...